At the end of January 2016, the first RED WEAPON 6K Magnesium cameras began shipping to professional videographers worldwide, a few months after the first RED 6K Woven Carbon Fiber and Forged Carbon Fiber hit the streets. The Irvine, California-based company then released its flagship RED WEAPON 8K Vista Vision camera at the end of 2015. Now, we have some of the first original footage from its 8K 35mm flagship at the smoothness of full-frame, ultra-high 32-megapixel resolution.

The RED WEAPON 8K Vista Vision camera, originally announced at NAB 2015 in Las Vegas last April, is capable of shooting 8K (8192x4320p) resolution at 60fps in full-sensor mode, or up to 75fps in a scope (2.40:1) frame format.

Michael Cioni, a filmmaker and supervisor known for his work in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), has said that arming filmmakers with 8K cameras is a great way to avoid upscaling if the final intended resolution is 4K. For example, if a filmmaker wants to reframe or video effects needs more resolution, then shooting only at 4K means finishing below 4K. The result is that the film must then be upscaled into a 4K finish.

“What I encourage everyone to consider is that 8K is not the new 4K. Instead, 8K is about to open up an entirely new era of cameras which I now call "The Super Sensors.” Super Sensors are camera systems like Alexa65 or Weapon 8K that are capturing with so much resolution that (like a DSLR) they are able to create a new level of smoothness that makes things look more like a photograph and less like a digital representation of film.”

“This is the camera exercise I did with the help of my friend, Erin Gales. Everything was shot with the Weapon 8K at 1280 ISO except for a 2nd camera angle during interviews, which was a Dragon 6K. Special thanks to Phil Newman, Megan Swanson, and Keenan Mock for their help on set.”

The original 8K (8192x4320p) video is uploaded in 4K Ultra HD 3840x2160p resolution and retains quite a bit of quality from the original 4K master. The file weighs in at 1.281GB and can be downloaded here.

In January, RED also announced that Guardians of the Galaxy 2, produced by Marvel Studios, will be the first major feature film shot on their new 8K WEAPON Vista Vision full-frame 35mm camera. The movie began filming this month at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia and is scheduled to be released May 5, 2017 in the United States.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 director James Gunn has explained his decision about choosing the 8K WEAPON camera, citing the need to have more control over every pixel of the film and the easier ability to seamlessly incorporate more visual and digital effects at a higher resolution:

“Firstly, I believe when shooting on a format like the Red Weapon 8K or the Alexa 65, the amount of data is so massive - certainly more so than on a strip of film - that it gives you more freedom in production and post production to create exactly the film you want to create than actual film does. As anyone who has ever worked with me knows, I am a control freak. Such high resolution gives me the ability to control every single bit of data (to do so would take a long time, but at least the knowledge comforts me).”

Back in November 2015, RED President Jarred Land and his team at Global Dynamics United launched a rehoused, bulletproof Canon 24mm f/2.8 lens and put it on a RED EPIC DRAGON camera for video demonstration purposes. The team then shot a clip of the camera being blasted with water and fire. The video was shot in 8K (8192x4320p) at 72fps on the RED WEAPON Vista Vision camera and is dubbed “Catastrophic Environmental Test 1.”

The RED Dragon 8K Vista Vision sensor itself is a $20k upgrade over the regular 6K Weapon Dragon and was expected to begin shipping at the end of 2015. The bare camera, or 6K Weapon Woven CF “brain,” is $49,955, making the entire purchase of a RED 8K camera close to $70k.

The only other Full Ultra High Definition (FUHD) 8K videos we have seen on the Internet so far come from YouTube and Vimeo, but very few of them are able to be downloaded in their native 8K resolution format. Here is one that we discovered of an 8K timelapse of Machu Picchu, Peru, filmed by Philip Bloom.

XFX was always known for its peculiar marketing strategies that are known to get a lot of attention, and the most recent one is definitely not an exception.

The company came with a campaign where "XFX declares W.A.R" on inferior graphics cards. The "W.A.R" part stands for wreak and ruin while the basic idea is to tell XFX why you'd like to destroy your inferior non-AMD Graphics Card.

The good news is that if you win, XFX will make you a proud owner of its R7970 graphics card. There is a catch though - if you get the XFX R7970, you will have to destroy your card.

The competition is open for EU residents and you need to visit XFX's Facebook page, like it and enter your W.A.R related idea.

You can find XFX Europe Facebook page here. You can get more rules and details here.

Western Digital has announced a completely new WD Red line of hard disk drives designed specifically for home and small office network attached storage (NAS) devices.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with WD's Blue, Green, and Black series, the Red series offers 3.5-inch HDDs available in 1, 2 and 3TB capacities and are designed for NAS systems with one to five drive bays. As noted, all three models will be packed in a standard 3.5-inch form factor and feature SATA 6Gbps interface and 64MB of cache.

According to WD, these HDDs have been compatibility tested with top NAS box manufacturers and optimized for both power and performance, which is, at least according to WD, a much better way to go considering that consumers had to choose between desktop or high-end server drives for their NAS devices, with neither being cost effective or fully NAS compatible.

According to WD, the new Red line feature 3D Active Balance Plus enhanced balance control technology feature that should significantly improve overall drive performance and reliability.

The new Red line of WD's HDDs should already be available with MSRP set at US $109 for the 1TB, US $139 for 2TB and US $189 for the 3TB drive model. The entire line is backed by WD's free premium 24x7 dedicated support and three-year warranty.

You can check all models here where you can find WD's NAS compatibility list as well.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros, Nintendo is producing a New Super Mario Edition Red Wii bundle pack that was announced for Japan; but now we hear that Europe will be getting it, as well. While there is still no word if it will be coming to North America for the holiday season, we continue to hear that it is possible.

The European version of the Red colored Wii console does not included the special “hacked” version of Super Mario Bros, but instead includes the original Donkey Kong. Beyond that, the Special Edition Red version of the Wii is the standard Wii Sports bundle with the New Super Mario Bros. plus a few other extras thrown in.

We hear that the console is being produced in limited numbers, so if you want it then you had better act quickly. It will show up on retailer shelves in Europe starting on October 29th. Pricing has yet to be confirmed.

Lancool is a relatively new name on the computer case market, but if you think they can’t deliver – you’re in for a big surprise. Lancool is actually a subsidiary of the company that needs no introduction – Lian Li. However, unlike Lian-Li, who make their cases of aluminum, Lancool makes their cases from steel, which at the same time pushes the weight up and pricing down.

Today, we’ll look at PC-K62R Red Dragon, which is somewhat of a new and improved version of Dragonlord case, this time with red interior.

As you can already see, PC-K62R Red Dragon resembles some much more expensive high-end cases.

Packaging

Red Dragon comes in a nice black box that features many pictures and details detailing the case. It’s not too large and you can easily carry it. The case weighs in at 9.55kg and our model is PC-K62R.

Below the large picture on the front of the box is the series of smaller ones, which detail some more specific points that make this case worth your while.

The side shows two smaller pictures which show the two available versions of this case – the one with a side-window and the one without.

Lancool secured the case with Styrofoam and wrapped the case in nylon, meaning the package can take a beating and your case will still be delivered in mint condition.

With the case you’ll get a fan controller, PSU fastening mechanism, 3 types of screws, an MB-warning speaker (buzzer), two plastic cable brackets, one 3-pin Molex adapter, self-adhesive rubber for mounting HDDs and an installation manual.

First look at Red DragonPC K62R Red Dragon’s looks isn’t the only selling point for Lancool’s case – there are many more surprises within the case.

There’s plenty of room in the red-colored interior. Lancool left a lot of holes in the panel that should make cable management and swaping CPU coolers a breeze, and there’s plenty of space for the HDD and optical devices as well.

The case is as tough as it gets – stainless steel does that. In this case, the steel isn’t brushed but a bit rough like a fine sandpaper.

Red Dragon is 49.6cm high, 21.4cm wide and 49.8cm long. The case comes with rubber feet that help with lessening vibration noise.

The front panel is closed with a two-layer wire mesh, which allows for air-intake without inviting dust in. Two-layer mesh is placed on most openings in the case and the inside layer, which is a finer mesh, can easily be removed and cleaned.

The upper part of the front panel will take up to ___ 5.25’’ optical devices, whereas the lower part is reserved for the 140mm (1000rpm) fan with a red LED lamp. The fan isn’t visible until the LED lamp lights up, and the fan draws in fresh air for HDDs/SSDs as well as the rest of components within the case.

On the top of the case you’ll find ON/OFF keys, 2xUSB ports, microphone and headphone jacks and Lancool’s logo. The rear part of the top panel is reserved for air-outlets. The case comes with two preinstalled 140mm fans.

The top panel can be taken off, but not before the front panel is removed. This “process” however, shouldn’t take more than 20 seconds.

Side panels are removed by a tug backwards, which isn’t easy and it takes some force, but once in place - side panels are stable and won’t vibrate. The screws that hold the side-panels in place don’t need tools to operate – you can unscrew them by hand.

The standard version of PC-G62R case comes with two metal side-panels, but you can order the windowed version and mount it with no trouble. We must admit that Red Dragon looks much better with the window on the side as the red interior really makes for a nice view.

As you can see from the following picture, there are one vertical and 8 standard expansion slots. You’ll find a 120mm (1500rpm) fan with a red LED lamp, so no lack of redness here.

Lancool seems to have thought about everything and there are two holes for external water cooling.

PSU is mounted on the bottom. Thanks to the rubber feet, the case is about 1cm from the floor, which helps the power supply get air.

The wire mesh is in action here as well, preventing dust from entering the case. Like the rest of them, it can be taken off and cleaned.

The insides

Lancool PC K62R Red Dragon case’s insides are painted red, which makes this a treat for your eyes when the side panel has a window on it. Good thing about this case is that HDD trays are slid outwards, so there’s no need for removing the graphics card every time you switch disks. The case supports microATX and ATX motherboards.

If you’ve no experience in mounting motherboards, don’t worry as Lancool marked the appropriate holes for ATX and microATX motherboards.

If you look at the motherboard tray, you’ll notice that it has a couple of larger holes. The largest one is behind the CPU, intended for large coolers which require back-panels. This means that you won’t have to take the motherboard out of the case in case you need to switch CPU coolers. The rest of the holes are for easier cable management, behind the motherboard where they’ll keep out of sight and out of the airflow.

HDD trays won’t get in the way of motherboard components, but you’ll have to take the right side panel off if you want to connect or disconnect your HDD. If you have one or two HDD, you can pull the trays outwards and then disconnect the cables, but if there are more HDDs, you won’t be able to. The reason is that the cable is not long enough and will tug on the rest of the trays. Red dragon will take up to 3.5’’ HDDs.

The optical drive locking system comes with relatively short “nails” that enter holes meant for screws, meaning that a slighter tug or push of an optical drive results in the drive moving. Only the first two out of five 5.25’’ slots come with a toolless system that speeds up the installation, whereas the rest is old fashioned – screws and some more screws.

Four 140mm (1000RPM) and one 120mm fan (1500RPM) are in charge of the airflow. If you haven’t been paying attention, one 140mm is on the front panel and another two are on the upper panel. The smaller 120mm fan (1500RPM) is on the back panel and it, just like the front fan, comes with a red LED lamp.

Expansion slots on this case use a special mechanism that makes our job much easier, and we’ve already seen it on some of Lian-Li’s cases.

Installation and testing

We mounted the PSU and fastened it with Lian-Li’s strange L-shaped bracket. We must admit that this mechanism is pretty simple and practical, but so are four screws.

The fans are quiet but Lian-Li’s Fan Speed Controller is there in case you need to control them manually.

Mounting HDDs is not time-consuming, but it does require you to take the side panel off in order to connect the cables.

Our test CPU cooler was Gelid Tranquillo, which we’ve so far used in Cooler Master’s HAF 922. The nice in-case airflow allowed for stable operation of our processor, which was overclocked to 3.3GHz.

After half an hour of Prime 95 torture, the temperature within the case was at 55°C, which is almost identical to HAF 922’s results. The fans ran at maximum RPM throughout our tests yet they were never too loud.

Lancool PC K62R Red Dragon didn’t fail us and our test only confirmed why this case already has a good reputation.

Conclusion

Although at a glance it might seem as just another standard case, Lancool’s PC K62R Red Dragon case hides much of what graces it. Naturally, knowing Lian-Li’s designs this is not a surprise. Within you’ll find all the space you need, openings for CPU coolers and cable management, rubber pucks to prevent HDD vibration and 4 silent fans.

Windowed Plexiglas panels, which can be purchased for this case, make a relatively uninspiring black box really come to life and the red interior coupled with red LED lamps really makes for a nice view. You can get Lancool K62 Midi-Tower - Red Dragon Window Edition for about 90 euro, here.

Since we’re talking about cost-down versions of Lian-Li cases, some things had to suffer, so you might find some details that seem as if they lack finishing touches. We’re mostly talking about the inside of the case, where upon closer look you’ll find that HDD brackets seem a little cheapish or that the rubber feet leave marks on the floor.

Red Dragon is a pretty functional case which deserves all plaudits, but things aren’t as bright price-wise. The case goes for €102, which in this times isn’t really what we’d call affordable nor nice bang-per-buck deal.

If however you don’t have monetary issues, like red color and ultimately choose to purchase it, we assure you that you won’t have any sleepless nights over what the case offers.

Special thanks to CaseKing, the company that kindly provided our today’s test sample.